UPD Needs to be Decisive in Campus Enforcement Policies

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A skateboarder such as this was recently injured on campus.

A tragic incident occurred Friday night outside the Recreation and Wellness Center (RAW) on our campus. A CSUEB student was riding his skateboard down the hill beginning at the science building, which leads to the RAW, and as he reached the bottom of the hill he attempted to slow himself before crashing right into one of the wooden benches below the RAW fountain.

He then began to have a seizure. Many of his peers rushed to his assistance and proceeded to call the paramedics as he had a gash in his knee, which was deep enough to almost expose the bone in his leg.

His current status is unknown, but we can only hope he will recover soon.

The problem here isn’t that he crashed into the bench, as unfortunate and tragic as it is. The issue that arises is the student was not following a CSUEB rule.

Riding a skateboard on campus is against a University Police Department (UPD) mandate, as it states all over campus that riding skateboards, bicycles and scooters are not allowed.

In a December 2007 edition of The Pioneer former staff writer, Rachael Nyrhila wrote an article regarding skateboarding on campus. In the article, according to former University Police Department Sgt. Alfred Cisneros the CSUEB policy states, “skateboarding is prohibited on campus.”

Cisneros also cited safety issues as a reason skateboarding is prohibited but admitted citations were rarely handed out and if anything verbal warnings were given.

Another university official said, “the police are not trying to discourage skateboarding on campus.”

Fast-forward five years later and there are signs posted throughout campus, visible to those who notice them, but can easily be missed.

If a student were to walk from the University Union to the dorms they would most likely see students on skateboards attempting to “ollie” off the RAW steps, or riding on the streets with others who share their passion for shredding.

Students are still seen constantly riding bikes and skateboards on campus along with scooters and even some cases motorized scooters.

Four officials who worked for UPD were asked about the policies, yet none of them were able to cite what would happen if a student were to be caught.

Another said if he saw a student riding by on his skateboard he, “wouldn’t do anything about it,” yet added that he “wouldn’t advise you riding by an officer.”

He also explained, if anything, the skateboard would be confiscated, and if a rider was a multiple offender he would most likely not even have his board returned to him.

Whether we are in favor of skateboarders or against, the issue is enforcement and students respecting laws on campus. What we need is consistency in enforcement and UPD needs to make up its mind on whether or not they are going to enforce this policy.

If students are going to be allowed to ride skateboards on campus then just fully allow it, or else citations or fines need to be handed down.

If it is against campus law then the law needs to be enforced with more effectiveness.

Now I respect the job the fine men and women of UPD do and know without them that our campus would not be a safe environment for students to learn, but this is definitely one issue that needs to be addressed.

While the incident that occurred Friday may just be an outlier, it is an outlier that needs to be noticed.

Let’s not allow another student to suffer a major accident because the law was not enforced.